


the horse and the rider

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [279]
Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Death, Future Fic, Gen, Secrets, Technology marches on, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4957225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe had seen, Methos thinks sometimes, just how much Methos hid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the horse and the rider

**Author's Note:**

> Title: the horse and the rider  
> Disclaimer: not my characters  
> Warnings: future!fic, references to death/violence  
> Pairings: none  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 695  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: any TV show. any. Don't blame me for what you've lost.

Kronos, Caspian, Silas, Byron. Others over the years, as Duncan has won many challenges. Rebecca and Darius cannot be laid at his door, though Methos could argue it, of course. Language is a slippery thing. 

Kronos and Byron. He has loved others, hundreds of them, but Kronos had been the greatest and Byron's words had captured it. The memories mingle, now. Or perhaps he has just grown old. 

He feels old, watching Duncan argue with his new Watcher the way he once argued with Joe. The girl has a sharp tongue and doesn't fall for Duncan's charm. She also doesn't recognize Methos. 

He'd fooled them all, towards the end of the last century. Adam Pierson suffered his first death while a Watcher and it was embarrassing for them all. He wasn't Methos, of course; Joe had helped him, realizing it was safer for everyone involved. 

Joe had seen, Methos thinks sometimes, just how much Methos hid. What _had_ to be hidden, to have survived so much. Before Kronos came back, bringing the Horsemen with him. Joe understood. 

Even now, thirty years after Methos tested the child, Duncan still doesn't. Even after Methos killed his brothers. 

So many of them dead. _There can be only one_ is a crock of shit. For a thousand years, four rode together; for three thousand, they lived in peace with each other. Had Kronos only adapted— 

Sarafina wins the argument and turns back to her tablet. Duncan pouts at her before stomping back to Methos. 

He is but a child, as all of them are. So few old ones remain because they were mostly like Kronos: unable or unwilling to adapt. Mortals grow cleverer every year and soon enough there will be no more hiding. 

There were days when immortals walked amongst mortals and everyone knew what they were. God-kings and children of gods; wisemen and sages; pilgrims who were given the best place at the table. 

Four men on horseback who terrorized a continent. So much history. Even more lost. 

There were good days and there were bad days, and Methos does not know how these modern mortals will react when it all comes to light.

He feels so very old. Tired. He misses his brothers. 

Inside, Kronos murmurs, _you know how easy it would be_. Silas begs for a horse to ride. 

It is not Duncan's fault, not truly, but it would be so easy to blame him.

The Watchers think Adam Pierson is Duncan's student, and has been for nearly three decades. Perhaps it is not that he is tired, simply bored of this life. 

There is much that is known, now. Very few places to hide. 

But he doesn't need to hide for long, does he? Once, he ruled nations. And for all that the world has changed—people haven't. 

"I'm gonna turn in," Adam Pierson tells his teacher and friend. He nods to Sarafina, shrugs on his coat, and steps into the night. 

People don't change. They haven't in over five thousand years. They adapt, yes, but who they are at their core, in their very soul? 

Kronos laughs as Methos' blood sings at the thought of the plan he quickly works through, walking in a city younger than Methos can truly fathom. Everything is so young, now. 

_I'll start with horses_ , Methos decides, for Silas.

Methos does not take with force, when he can avoid it. Taking with force is easy, and often leads to unrest, to rebellion. It is always best to work in the shadows, to be a friend of the people, and then, when you sit on the throne, they love you. 

And if that doesn't work, as it doesn't always, you strike quickly.

Adam Pierson disappears. On the other side of the world, a warlord who adores horses learns that there is a young man who works magic with them. He says that his name is Silvano, when the warlord's men come for him, and he's only ever wanted to work with horses. 

Technology will reveal immortals soon, and Silvano's 'uncle' offers him the best place at the table, and the horses dance as they have not danced in three thousand years.


End file.
